School Board, Arts School Principal Near Settlement

January 24, 2003|By Scott Travis Education Writer

The Palm Beach County School Board is expected to vote Monday on a proposed settlement with the former principal of Dreyfoos School of the Arts, Amelia Ostrosky, potentially ending seven months of messy and expensive legal battles.

The board has scheduled a 15-minute closed meeting at 6 p.m., followed by an open meeting to vote on the settlement.

"We would very much like to see this settled, and we very much feel like we're close," School Board member Monroe Benaim said.

Bob Montgomery, a lawyer for Ostrosky, said district lawyers sent a settlement proposal to him, and he has sent a response.

"I think it's going to be settled Monday, or it's never going to be settled out of court," he said. "We've been dealing with this for quite some time, and it's now time to fish or cut bait."

Neither School Board members nor Ostrosky's lawyers would discuss the terms of the proposed settlement. Thomas Panza, the Fort Lauderdale lawyer representing the district in the case, could not be reached Thursday.

A settlement approval is unlikely to speed the release of the 6,000-page report on the Dreyfoos investigation. Circuit Judge Stephen Rapp ruled this month that the report should become public except the names of students with disabilities, but the school district filed an appeal last week saying that all student names should be kept private.

The report must become public once School Board members receive it, but they haven't yet.

"When you're dealing with the public's trust and the public's money, it's very difficult to not see what you're settling over," Benaim said. "But the board wants to end something that's been weighing on the district and not lay out any additional legal fees."

The cost of the investigation and subsequent lawsuits have exceeded $500,000.

The Dreyfoos saga began in June 2001, when Superintendent Art Johnson transferred Ostrosky from Dreyfoos to a middle school against her will and then launched a wide-reaching investigation into her leadership at the school.

Some issues in the report center on school procedures, including allegations that grades were changed and that the admissions process was unfair. Others deal more personally with Ostrosky's character, including whether she dressed unprofessionally and acted in a lewd manner at parties.

Ostrosky resigned in March 2002 and sued in July, claiming that Johnson and former School Board member Jody Gleason harassed her and misused confidential student information against her. Gleason settled with Ostrosky in September, admitting no guilt but agreeing to pay $15,000, which came out of school district insurance.

In August, the board rejected a settlement proposal submitted by Ostrosky's lawyers. Ostrosky wanted to receive her full 30-year pension, six weeks of back pay (about $10,600), a public apology from district officials and for the investigation to stay out of her personnel files.